Use, Yes. Steal, No.

September 07, 2009

"Oh my God."

That was Flavia's reaction when Corina told her she had saved six match points on the way to her comeback win over Bepa, 46 76 60, in what was the match of the tournament so far for the women. The first two sets were high quality and off the charts competitive.

In the end, it all came down to the 15+ minute game on Flavia's serve at 5-6 in the second set. Flavia would play huge, HUGE, on the four match points that she would have to save. Bepa on the other hand played way too conservatively (though she played well) on those points, waiting for Flavia to give her the match.

Yeah, Flavia don't play that. She would go on to hold serve *and* save two more match points in the tiebreak to take the second set and destroy Bepa's spirit.

"I think we broke her brain."

I don't think I can really do justice describing the Bepa breakdown that occurred in that third set. First she left the court to change and was reportedly crying hysterically as she left the court. Then she angrily started ripping off her tape a few points into the third set. Then she yelled at Lynn for not letting her cut off the tape between the first and second game of the set because it wasn't a changeover. Then she fell down and violently slapped herself 5 times. The dropped about 4 F-bombs. And then she cracked her racquet into the net post. I'm sure there was other stuff. But as I was telling my cousins who had never seen her before, "Yeah, um...this happens."

Really really gutsy stuff from Flavia today. Let's be clear, Bepa played well enough to win for 1.99 sets. Other than the fact that she didn't take any risks, Bepa played the match points well I thought. But Flavia had courage. And that was the difference. Well that and Bepa's crazy.

Comments

"Oh my God."

That was Flavia's reaction when Corina told her she had saved six match points on the way to her comeback win over Bepa, 46 76 60, in what was the match of the tournament so far for the women. The first two sets were high quality and off the charts competitive.

In the end, it all came down to the 15+ minute game on Flavia's serve at 5-6 in the second set. Flavia would play huge, HUGE, on the four match points that she would have to save. Bepa on the other hand played way too conservatively (though she played well) on those points, waiting for Flavia to give her the match.

Yeah, Flavia don't play that. She would go on to hold serve *and* save two more match points in the tiebreak to take the second set and destroy Bepa's spirit.

"I think we broke her brain."

I don't think I can really do justice describing the Bepa breakdown that occurred in that third set. First she left the court to change and was reportedly crying hysterically as she left the court. Then she angrily started ripping off her tape a few points into the third set. Then she yelled at Lynn for not letting her cut off the tape between the first and second game of the set because it wasn't a changeover. Then she fell down and violently slapped herself 5 times. The dropped about 4 F-bombs. And then she cracked her racquet into the net post. I'm sure there was other stuff. But as I was telling my cousins who had never seen her before, "Yeah, um...this happens."

Really really gutsy stuff from Flavia today. Let's be clear, Bepa played well enough to win for 1.99 sets. Other than the fact that she didn't take any risks, Bepa played the match points well I thought. But Flavia had courage. And that was the difference. Well that and Bepa's crazy.